Culture is fascinating! Did you know that the term “the whole nine yards” didn’t really come from sports? The term, which most U.S. Americans understand as “going the distance” or “giving 100%”, has many possible explanations from the nine yards of cloth once used to make a funeral shroud, to scoring a touchdown in football. But most etymologists say it came from World War II and refers to the length of one ammunition belt from a belly-gunner's machine gun. When the target was unusually difficult, the soldier was forced to use all his ammunition. So it was said to have taken the "whole nine yards. It’s amazing how often we employ cliches, slang terms, acronyms and sports jargon to express ourselves in the workplace. If we are not always certain of the exact meaning of these forms of speech how difficult is it for our foreign counterparts to understand them? Achieving effective communication is difficult when people speak the same language. In the multi-cultural workplace we are often speaking or writing English to those who are speaking it and reading it as a second or even third language. For them, English has become another technical skill that they must perfect in order to work in global business. Respecting another’s ability and effort to use English in business can go a long way in building relationships with other cultures. Global LT’s Cultural Training Programs - Speaking English as the Language of Global Business